


Five Times Keith Had To Deal With Spiders Alone (And One Time He Didn't)

by Kireii-yume (kireii_yume)



Series: Kireii-Yume Does Cliche'd Fics! [3]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Arachnophobia, M/M, cliche fics, don't know what else to tag as, five times one time
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-01-26
Packaged: 2018-09-20 00:51:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,650
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9468155
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kireii_yume/pseuds/Kireii-yume
Summary: Keith Kogane, though he will never admit it, is not fond of spiders. And he has to go it alone.Modern AU





	

**Author's Note:**

> As part of my foray into cliched fics, here is the five times one time fic! Have Klance and arachnophobia done in a modern au because why not.
> 
> Inspired by headcanons from [puppy-socks](http://puppy--socks.tumblr.com) and ideas from [frisksy](http://zenyattajpg.tumblr.com)!

Keith’s first spider encounter happened at age seven. 

He was alone in his house, waiting for his older brother, Shiro, to come home, when the arachnid had started to crawl across the floor. It was shiny black, with spindly legs, and when Keith cautiously poked its back, it flipped over, revealing a red mark on its abdomen. The spider didn’t seem to appreciate that, and it quickly turned on Keith, ready to bite. 

In half a second Keith scaled the couch, trying to balance on the very top while all his limbs were shaking. He didn’t know much about spiders, but this one seemed angry and the sight of it made Keith want to scream. The couch started to teeter under his weight, causing even more panic as he swayed back and forth, getting closer and closer to the floor. When Shiro came home, he found Keith holding onto the couch for dear life, on the verge of tears, while the spider was starting to learn that it could climb. Within seconds Shiro had killed it, and the way his jaw clenched told Keith that something was very wrong.

A few minutes later, after calming Keith down, Shiro said that if Keith ever saw any more shiny black spiders with red on them to stay far away from them and never let them bite him. And Keith didn’t question it. In fact, he didn’t want to see any other spider ever again. 

\---------------

A morning shower didn’t exactly seem like a threatening thing.

Most people found it relaxing, chill, even enjoyable. But no, that experience had to be ruined by spiders for Keith too. 

Shiro was out as usual, leaving him alone in the house, and it was incredibly hot. The winters were nice in their area, but in the summers it became abundantly clear that this was a desert. It had hit about 110 Fahrenheit and Keith was sick of it. Hence, the idea for a cold shower. It would help him feel better, help him forget that the temperature could not only fry an egg, but spontaneously combust it for good measure. And for a while, it worked. The cold water running down Keith’s back felt amazing, and the lingering dampness of his hair kept the cool feeling going even while he was drying off. Overall, everything felt wonderful until Keith felt something crawling over his foot.

A camel spider began to ascend his leg, so large that its eight legs almost could wrap all the way around Keith’s thin calf. Its mandibles looked massive and swollen, and he could have sworn that its tiny, beady little eyes were glaring at him. Keith swore loudly and kicked back, sending the spider flying, and before it could react he leapt out of the bathroom and slammed the door shut. As an afterthought he dragged a coffee table over to the door to block the spider in. Of course the spider couldn’t turn the doorknob…

But just in case. Who needed a bathroom anyway?

\--------------

When Keith had left to go to boarding school, he and his four roommates had enjoyed pranking each other. However, one prank that Keith distinctly did not enjoy was of Pidge’s invention. Recently, Pidge had found a plastic tarantula figurine in his biology classroom, designed to be anatomically correct and look exactly like the real thing. His teacher said he could take it, and Pidge certainly took him up on that offer. Now, every so often, someone would find a plastic tarantula in his room. Lance just snickered and gave it back to Pidge. “How stupid do you think I am?” Lance chuckled, much to Pidge’s chagrin. Hunk simply ignored it and put it on Pidge’s pillow. 

Keith had to assume it would be his turn soon. 

But when Keith found the tarantula, Pidge was the last thing on his mind. He’d simply pulled back his covers and found a spider right in the middle of his bed. As a burst of adrenaline shot through Keith, he grabbed the nearest textbook and slammed it down on the spider as hard as he could, producing a cracking sound that seemed to echo through the entire building. Keith lifted the book and saw the shattered remains of Pidge’s plastic replica, legs scattered over the bed and abdomen split in two perfectly equal pieces. With shaking hands he gathered the ill-fated replica’s remains and placed them in front of Pidge’s door. 

And when he got into bed, Keith knew he’d be too wired to sleep.

\-------------

“Keith…” Lance breathed, standing still as a statue. 

“Yeah?” Keith asked, moving across the room to pick the meat cleaver up from where it was embedded in the carpet. 

“Why did you throw that meat cleaver at the clump of hair in the carpet?” _Clump of hair?_ Keith took a second to process that his target was not, in fact, a spider. 

“No reason,” Keith deflected, going back to the kitchen to rinse the meat cleaver and resume his dinner preparation. 

“Keith, you almost stabbed me!” 

“You’re fine,” Keith dismissed, trying to keep his expression neutral. 

“You just chucked a meat cleaver across the room!” Lance exclaimed. “You’ve gotta have a reason for that, dude!” 

“Nah. Are Hunk and Pidge coming back for dinner?” After a second of silence, Lance shook his head.

“Just us. You sure you’re good?” 

“Yeah. No problem. OK, we’ll have dinner in about ten minutes. At least grab plates.”

“Fine, mom.”

\--------------

Keith looked in the mirror, adjusting his red hoodie and running his fingers through his hair one more time. This was it. His first date with Lance. It had to be absolutely perfect. All those months of idly pining after him, trying to disguise his feelings with annoyance and come up with plausible reasons for constantly being around Lance, had led up to this. He was going to take the guy of his dreams out to dinner and it was going to go well, come hell or high water. It would work. It would. It had to. 

After making sure for the twentieth time that he looked fine, Keith readied himself to leave the room. One last adjustment of his hair…and then something fell from the ceiling onto his hand. Keith already knew what it was, he didn’t even have to look. With no other options, he swiftly slammed the back of his hand into the wall, wincing at the impact. Miraculously, it didn’t seem like anything was broken. His hand and knuckles hurt like heck, but the spider was dead. Worth it, Keith thought as he tried to make his heart stop fibrillating. He was already nervous enough without spiders falling out of the sky.

“Um, Keith? You good?” Lance’s voice came from the other side of his wall. The fact that they were roommates made coordinating dates easier, but it made secretively preparing for them all but impossible. Keith took a deep breath and pressed his hands on the wall, trying to keep them from shaking. Two deep breaths later, and he was ready.

“Yeah,” Keith called back, stepping out of his room to behold Lance. He wore his typical green jacket and his typical smirk, but there was something else in his eyes that made Keith smile. Lance really was perfect. And a spider was not going to ruin this date. 

\--------------

Keith was nestled comfortably in Lance’s arms, smiling contentedly for the first time in what seemed like forever. It was an odd feeling, but one that Keith was not about to give up in a hurry. He and Lance hadn’t been together for long, but the tiny time they had been together seemed like heaven. It felt like nothing could ruin this perfection. 

Until a massive spider came and sat right next to Lance’s foot.

A quick survey of his surroundings showed that there was nothing within immediate reach for spider killing. Sure, there were lots of things on the coffee table, but Keith would have to move to get those, and he couldn’t do that with Lance’s arms around him. And stepping on it was out of the question. Obviously. All Keith could do was tense up, try and breathe deeply, and hope that it would go away soon. 

“You okay babe?” Lance asked, wrapping his hand around Keith’s. For a moment, Keith didn’t respond. He really couldn’t, because on the one hand he didn’t want to reveal his fear, one reserved for little girls and screaming women in 50’s sitcoms, but he also couldn’t lie to his boyfriend. He simply tensed up until Lance finally noticed the spider right next to his foot. “Are you…scared of spiders?” The tone wasn’t one that suggested that Lance would make fun of him…it felt like it could be safe to tell him. Keith nodded, every muscle in his body filled with tension. Shame bubbled up in his stomach—he didn’t want to look weak, he didn’t want to look incapable. He was being a baby, it shouldn’t be that hard to take care of a spider. But all Lance did was nod, full of understanding. “Here, I’ve got it.” Lance gently moved Keith and grabbed a newspaper from the coffee table. One well-aimed strike later, and the spider was disposed of. 

“Just breathe, you’ll be fine,” Lance soothed, rubbing calming circles into Keith’s back. Keith resumed his previous position, his head right by Lance’s chest, and for once let the adrenaline’s effects wear off without worrying about hiding it. He shivered, his breathing ragged, and instead of laughing at him or teasing, like so many others would, Lance just held him close, pressing soothing kisses onto the crown of his head until Keith stopped shaking. “You okay?” 

“Yeah. Thanks,” Keith sighed, practically melting into Lance’s perfect embrace. And as Keith let his eyes close in relaxation, he knew he’d never felt more safe.

**Author's Note:**

> Check out my [ blog ](http://kireii-yume.tumblr.com) to request things!


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